DREAMS COME TRUE - EVEN THE ONES YOU DIDN'T KNOW YOU HAD...

I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to write about the amazing opportunity I had back in January!! Being a pro makeup artist for so long, I’ve had the pleasure of working with some pretty cool people for some awfully wicked occasions. But one of those that might take the cake, is a little something I worked on for the Canadian Olympic Committee!

When I received a call from the COC, the lovely lady who booked me mentioned it would be for a last minute gig—this was a Saturday night, and the photo shoot was on the Monday night. Couldn’t tell me location, couldn’t tell me the talent. All she could tell me is that it was top secret and that I would get more details Monday afternoon.

There was a hair component to the photo shoot, so naturally my first call was to my partner-in-crime, Lori from Showpony Hair and Beauty. Whenever something cool comes in, she’s the one - always the one - I can count on. So we ponied up, got super excited and awaited our details!

We got to the location, and it was dark from the outside, but we were welcomed at the door by part of the super friendly crew. Minute by minute, more people showed up, and we had an opportunity to get to know the photographer a bit by chatting while we waited for the talent to arrive from the airport. The photographer’s name is Chris Gordaneer - he’s part of a collective named Westside Studio in Toronto and his work is EPIC. Seriously, go check him out!

Talent arrived and we were blown away - it was Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir!!! The ‘soon-to-be’ Olympic gold medalists (again!) at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games. We could not believe it - we were working on the official Olympic image for our Nation’s Flag Bearers!

They truly are the kindest, most genuine, and funniest, pair ever. What you see is what you get with them. We worked on Tessa first, and I gave her my classic soft smokey and a mid-tone lip. We kept it fairly natural due to the nature of the shoot, the styling/clothing, the setup etc. Her hair ended up being in a voluminous pony, but softly pulled back. For Scott, we just did the regular amount of grooming that we would normally do for a shoot or 4K video.

Photo: Chris Gordaneer

Photo: Chris Gordaneer

And a little #BTS action too!

A little #BTS shot from Georgia from @TeamCanada!

As we were working with Tessa, she mentioned she would love to have us do her hair and makeup for the official press release the following morning at the House of Commons with Prime Minister Trudeau - so naturally we were so happy to doll her up the next morning as well. What an absolute pleasure to work with her again! You can see from the pictures below the overall look was a lot softer, but equally as pretty. When you’re working with such a natural beauty like Tessa, it doesn’t take much at all!

At the House of Commons, Parliament of Canada, Ottawa

Photo: Tessa Virtue

Photo: screenshot from CBC Broadcast, January 16, 2018

House of Commons, Parliament of Canada, Ottawa

And then they went on to win GOLD(s)!!!

This one will definitely go in the books as highly memorable and one that I’m eternally grateful for.